DIMAPUR:
The Rising People’s Party (RPP), on May 2, slammed the Nagaland government for not releasing Centre’s scholarship money to students saying it “does not belong” to the state higher education department or the United Democratic Alliance (UDA) government, but the students.
“This money is meant for the students and therefore it’s unacceptable that the government should humiliate and harass the student community year after year over the issue,” the RPP said in a statement issued on Monday.
The party asked the department concerned, if the money, which rightfully belongs to the students, “cannot be released unless the All Nagaland College Students Union (ANCSU) or the student community reminds it every year”.
On April 30, the ANCSU served an ultimatum to the state government to disburse the scholarship money within 10 days, failing which it threatened to resort to any “befitting means of protest”.
Through a statement, the party also accused the government of spending exuberantly on chief minister’s residential complex but refraining from releasing “a few” crores of scholarship money to deserving students. The party also asked when the state finance can release Rs 30 crore as ‘additional funds’ for a ghost road project in Phek district, what is stopping the same department from releasing the few crores meant for genuine beneficiaries.
“Has the UDA coalition stooped so low? This is called theft,” the statement read.
The party also said apart from “fleecing” the innocent students, the UDA coalition has become adept in “peddling lies”.
“Some politicians and departmental officials are making sleepless rounds trying to convince landowners that all Group D appointments have been banned by the High Court till date, because of the PIL filed by RPP,” the release said.
The RPP pointed out that in response to a PIL filed by it, the Kohima bench of Gauhati High Court on November 10, 2021, issued an order categorically allowing the state government to conduct recruitment in Group D posts.
The party informed all the landowners that there is no ban in appointment to Group D post in the state and that if any department refused the landowners their right to employment, it will be answerable to the court.
The RPP said it is also the responsibility of the additional attorney general representing the state government in the case, to put a stop to this “political propaganda” against it.